Katy, Logee's is certainly an adventure in itself. I've been going there for years. My first times were when Joy Martin was running it. Even squeezing through the aisles single file is worth it. So many exotic plants growing over, under and around! It's only about a 40 minute ride for me. I don't know of any other greenhouses that have that kind of variety. The botanical center at Roger Williams Park here in Providence is big and interesting. There's a $3 admission though. Lunch afterwards would not be a problem. Providence has tons of great restaurants. Maybe some others here would be interested in one of these or something else. Bill

Happy New Year to all my gardening friends. PEACE on earth, including Gardenweb. May the New Year bring love, happiness, forgiveness, joy, Wisdom, and Beauty beyond what you hope for in your gardens. Here's to New Beginnings. Cheryl

Al, actually, I made those a few weeks ago before I got sick. Like Dcarch mentioned, those lasts a loooong time! Back during the prehistoric time when refrigerators weren't around yet, many of our New Year food were made in a way that it wouldn't spoil and lasted as long as they could. The rice cakes, when done right, would lasted for weeks without refrigerating. Many New Year food were made a week or 2 in advance. This way, food were always ready for unexpected visits of family and friends during this busiest time of the year. My family has lots of memories making rice cakes. Because of its looong period of cooking (6-8 hrs.), when we were little, we would all begging my mom to let us stay up at night to keep on the watch for the fire. When we made rice cake back in Vietnam, we didn't just made a few. We would make at least 40-50 to give out as gifts. A gigantic pot was a must in order to boil that many rice cakes. That means, an outside camp fire was needed to accomodate this gigantic pot. Someone would have to stay up to keep the fire going. It was like sitting around a camp fire and chit chatting, telling ghost stories and having a good laugh. In case you were wondering why we didn't cook them during the day, that was because it took all day to prepare and wrap those rice cakes. By the time they were all done, evening approached. What I love about our New Year vs. Christmas is the gifts. Our New Year gifts are mostly consisted of food, fruits and flowers/plants. LOL.... It's hard to disappoint anyone with these gifts, don't you agree?

Happy new year to you,too,Jannie. I'm seeing Marci next Tues. and will tell her you were on the forum.